Friday, February 1, 2013

Haredim slam TV exposé on sexual abuse in community

Times of London London’s Haredi leadership has hit back at a television program claiming that the community covers up child sex abuse, saying the show “has done nothing to assist, and may have damaged, the chances of bringing abusers to justice.”

The program, “Britain’s Hidden Child Abuse,” aired on Channel 4 on Wednesday and alleged that rabbis in the Orthodox community forbid or discourage alleged victims of pedophilia from going to the secular authorities. It showed secretly filmed footage of two Haredi rabbis approached for advice by a former member of the community, who alleged that he had been sexually abused as a child. [...]

A spokesman for the Union of Orthodox Hebrew Congregations, an umbrella organization for Orthodox institutions in London, told The Times of Israel that the program’s credibility was undermined by its reliance on anonymous sources. These included a rabbi whose face was not shown, who claimed that a young family had been driven out of its community after reporting abuse to authorities, and two young men who claimed to have taken the law into their own hands by attacking alleged perpetrators after their complaints of abuse were ignored by the rabbis.

“Channel 4 chose to use an anonymous ‘rabbi,’ an unidentified group of thuggish vigilantes, a young man whose claims cannot be verified and two specific cases that Channel 4 knew full well to have been investigated thoroughly by the local authorities and dropped without action to imply that our community does not take its responsibilities seriously,” the spokesman said.

“Our community does not need Channel 4 to remind us of our duty and responsibility to protect our children. They are our future, and we do all we can to protect them from these unspeakable crimes.

10 comments:

I saw it.It seemed to me like Rabbi Padwa was being set up. It was malicious. The British no longer have a need to hide their hatred of the Jewish People behind Anti-Zionism.Now with their willing capos they point the finger right at England's Jews.Please spare me the nonsense that they want to help children.Jews in Britain are being beaten up in the streets and told they cannot wear yarmulkes in public.This story is yet another manifestation of their hatred.

There is a concerted effort to either absolve, ignore or minimize issues of sex abuse to children especially when occuring with a religious individual. We have teachers who are working with students who have had suspicious sexual behavior. Rav Avigdor Miller zt"l was a lone voice in belief of children & their stories, and stood strong (& lost) against problematic teachers. Stop worrying about the kavod, respect and well being of the adult and begin to focus on the pain, anquish and depression of the youth.

Why can't the outside world accept that our internal community processes are far more effective against child abuse than the secular legal system is? Easy! Because the outside world notices that our processes in this area are typically nonexistent, ineffective, or corrupted.

One can only laugh bitterly.Rabbi Padwa was obviously trapped by somebody hiding a microphone and video.This information was intended to give London's frum community a black eye from the start.This is what is indefensible.Rabbi Padwa never ,Chas VeShalom hurt anybody.That did not stop this young man from trying to link the rav and the community .Obviously,this gives the Goyim the impression that the Jews think harming children is normal in their circles.Very malicious.

Rabbi Padwa was obviously trapped by somebody hiding a microphone and video.That is kind of how secret investigations work. They want to get what people honestly say. Dispatches has done a number of them, several of which lead to criminal charges, this one may as well.

This information was intended to give London's frum community a black eye from the start.No this information was intended to convey what actually happens behind closed doors. Not the public image that Hareidi sector would like to portray while quietly working to subvert laws and halakha.

If Rabbi Padwa had actually answered according to the halakha established by the Gedolim, he wouldn't be in trouble. It would not have given the London's frum community a black eye. In fact Dispatches probably never would have run a story on it. In fact they probably would have simply shut down their investigation and moved on to doing their fourth piece on sharia fanatics in England.

If the British are looking to attack Jews it would help if the Jews wouldn't stop giving them ammunition.Time was the gentiles had to make up malicious stories about us to justify their hatred. Now we do it for them.

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Rav Zev Leff recommends my 3 books on Child & Domestic Abuse

Click on picture to hear excerpt from Jan. 2012 Kav L'Noar conference. "I want to first give hakoras hatov to Dr. Baruch Shulem who provided me with Daniel Eidensohn's books on child abuse and domestic abuse which offered me many many sources and it gave me many many ideas to be able to deal with the subject properly. And I thank them and I recommend those books to everyone who is interested in getting a good foundation what the issues are in this very important topic."

Daniel Eidensohn

I have a Ph.D.in psychology and have provided guidance and short-term therapy for many years - especially in areas of religious conficts & reframing. In the last 25 years I have been writing reference books for the Orthodox Jewish community.
I am primarily interested that people know and understand what the acceptable alternatives are rather than selling a particular view or engaging in apologetics. Full acceptance of Orthodox Judaism and halacha is a given. There will not be any discussion to justify or prove the validity of Torah or halacha.
My books include Yad Moshe the index to the Igros Moshe of Rav Moshe Feinstein, Yad Yisroel the index to the Mishna Berura of the Chofetz Chaim and Daas Torah an encyclopedia of Jewish Theology.
I have recently published 3 volumes on the issue of Child and Domestic Abuse in the Jewish community and a revised 2nd edition of Daas Torah (-available in seforim stores and Amazon)..
In recent years I have received guidance from Rav Moshe Sternbuch of the Eidah Charedis. I am a member of the chareidi community in Jerusalem.
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